After Macondo: On Evelio Rosero After Macondo: On Evelio Rosero
In Evelio Rosero's The Armies, war is like the Law in Kafka: cruel, implacable and coldly divine.
Jan 7, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ben Ehrenreich
History Unforeseen: On Sylvia Townsend Warner History Unforeseen: On Sylvia Townsend Warner
In the fiction of Sylvia Townsend Warner, historical change is accidental and almost imperceptible, but for all that no less decisive.
Jan 7, 2010 / Books & the Arts / David Carroll Simon
Sometimes a Small Redemption: On Ludmilla Petrushevskaya Sometimes a Small Redemption: On Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
For Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, the fantastical is always found in the startling, dark and unfathomable episodes of daily life.
Dec 2, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Alexandra Schwartz
Like Lives: On Lorrie Moore Like Lives: On Lorrie Moore
A 9/11 story modeled on Jane Eyre, A Gate at the Stairs is Lorrie Moore's most ambitious novel, and her slipperiest work to date.
Dec 2, 2009 / Books & the Arts / David Wallace-Wells
Novelist From Another Planet: On Horacio Castellanos Moya Novelist From Another Planet: On Horacio Castellanos Moya
Horacio Castellanos Moya has turned anxiety into an art form and put El Salvador on the literary map.
Nov 24, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Natasha Wimmer
Evicted From His Own Head: On Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky Evicted From His Own Head: On Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky
In the stories of Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, the landscape of the Russian revolution is hostile territory, and terrifying in its scope.
Nov 11, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Elaine Blair
Linguistic Currency Linguistic Currency
In an information economy, tiny asymmetries in language comprehension translate into vast profits--and large-scale collapses.
Nov 3, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
At Least, At Most: The Novels of Don Carpenter At Least, At Most: The Novels of Don Carpenter
With his plain, weather-beaten prose, Don Carpenter was a good enough novelist not to have to prove it.
Oct 21, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Charles Taylor
Honey and Salt Honey and Salt
Technology has made us capable of exterminating ourselves. In The Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood wonders what might save us.
Oct 14, 2009 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz
Drunk and Disorderly Drunk and Disorderly
Jean Rhys wrote about women who tangled with class and sexuality on their own terms.
Oct 6, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Phoebe Connelly